July 18, 2012 2:33 pm

A day after receiving a report from the California Highway Patrol, the Alameda County District Attorney’s office has filed charges against Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Lynch, 26, was arrested by the California Highway Patrol on Saturday morning when a police officer observed him driving north on Interstate 880 in Oakland, weaving in and out of lanes in a white Ford Van, and nearly colliding with two cars.

After failing a preliminary sobriety test, Lynch was taken into custody and transported to Alameda County Sheriff department’s north county jail in Oakland. Lynch submitted to a breathalyzer test, and the test came back positive that his blood alcohol content level was over the state’s legal limit of 0.08.

Teresa Drenick, director of communications for the district attorney’s office, said Lynch still has an arraignment date of Aug. 14, although that could change at the request of his attorney.

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Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

Feeds

Hopefully this serves as a wake up call, we stay competitive and he comes back with fresh legs when he gets back. It just sucks he’ll probably miss our toughest part of our schedule, but defenses are usually ahead of the offenses early in the season so that gives me hope.
PC probably called Turbin Tuesday just to tell him he loves him.

It’s what his dumb ass gets. Although I doubt he’ll get more than probation, hopefully it will scare him enough to prevent future infractions. I know it’s only speculation, but I’m guessing that he’ll get a three game suspension. All I (we) can hope for is that the suspension doesn’t kick in until the Seahawks schedule calms down. Also, I wonder what the team will do to him–i.e., I wonder if his fat contract had something like a behavioral clause. If it did, I wonder how much money he’s going to lose.

Now that there is an official charge (not a conviction) that gives the league the ability to levy any punishment they see fit.

My guess is 4-8 games, likely coming in around 6 games.

The question will be if the team did indeed put language in Lynch’s contract that it can be voided with no guaranteed money paid out for any suspension, at what point does the team actually consider doing this? 1 year (yup you betcha)? 8 games (1/2 the season…maybe). 4 games? Seems a bit harsh.

If that clause does in fact exist, is Seattle going to actually void his contract and just let him walk? No. They may use it as leverage to recoup money or even rework his contract, but let’s not get too carried away with the contract void talk.

I agree, but if the language was inserted into Lynch’s contract, then the team was very wise. I can tell you that language is not inserted into a contract unless there is reason for it or there is an intent to enforce said language.

I can’t see the team putting such language into this specific contract and then not attempting to use it to their advantage. (assuming it exists) Otherwise why would such language be there at all?

But Lynch’s attorney, Ivan Golde, told The Associated Press later Wednesday that he feels the case could get thrown out or reduced because of discrepancies in blood-alcohol tests.

In a phone interview, Golde said that Lynch was at .08, which is the California legal limit, during a preliminary alcohol screening when Lynch was pulled over in Emeryville, Calif., on Saturday. Golde said when Lynch was retested at the jail, he blew above a .08

chuck_easton – Of course. My point is only that this isn’t necessarily a all or nothing proposition. That is, terminate the contract in it’s entirety, as is being insinuated, or pay in full. Moreover, is there anything to suggest this isn’t a standard clause in all of Seattle’s deals?

“Lynch was charged by the Alameda County district attorney with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol and driving while having a blood-alcohol level of .08 or higher.”

Appears the legal limit is .07. Blowing a .08 get’s you busted. I suppose the conversation will now move to whether being so close to the line makes him a good boy or bad boy, not whether he was actually impaired and dangerous. Some good lawyering may get this reduced, but will it matter to Goodell?

Seems every year for the past 3 years whoever TNT has in the banner photo at the top of the blog has gone by the wayside. And now this with Lynch. I think it’s the curse of the banner! Eric, please…I beg you…put T-jack in the banner photo and take down Marshawn ASAP.

Does anyone else think the venue of his arrest will play a role? In other words, he got arrested in northern California not too far from San Fran. In all likelihood someone on the prosecution is a 49rs fan. The same is probably true for the judge. I know that that shouldn’t play a role…however

I vote for T-jack for the banner pic! Nah, actually T-jack is too nice of a guy, in-spite of my opinion of him as a starting NFL QB. Hmm…let’s see…who would be a good choice for the banner??? Let’s put Peter King in the photo!

Here is one thing that the lawyers in California will absolutely jump on. The breathalyzer discrepancies are often due to the (not to get into specific chemistry) evaporation of the “standard sample” which can lead to the test machine giving progressively higher BAC results, albeit inaccurate. This has led recently to a large number of DUI cases being dismissed, due to inadequate test machine maintenance!

freedom_X???? This would have been in Alameda County. He was arrested in Emoryville CA just N of Oakland, across the bay from S.F.! You might want to check your GPS, and remember kids if you don’t know the answer, shut the F*%k up!

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